no meltdowns or stims?

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I'm more inclined to zone out than have a meltdown, but I have had them in the past, the most recent being about 6 months ago. These days everything's over a lot quicker, and only one thing gets broken (a lava lamp and my laptop being the last two, damn crap Sony ), instead of destroying the whole room like I did while I was at school a couple of times.

I don't stim in most of the stereotypical ways. I don't rock (tap foot maybe), or flap my hands (flex fingers and joints a lot though). I can usually get by fiddling with a piece of string or paper if it's available. In flight magazines get all the pages with adverts on both sides pulled out, as I find flying pretty stressful, and I'm good at origami.

My son's meltdowns consist of him spinning in circles or walking in circles, incapable of making eye contact. He's not angry. He seems completely detached and mostly nonverbal. It happens very infrequently and lasts for several minutes.

Haven't had a real meltdown since the mid-90s, and good thing it was then too, I had it at work. Got pulled off the account I was on for a month, nowadays, they'd just fire me. I tend to stop and concentrate if things get too stressful; just break it down to one thing at a time. Triage, prioritizes, etc.

I have had meltdowns, and am not happy about it. However, I don't think I have noticeable stims.

What exactly makes up a meltdown?

a common question... my answers are here...

The Aspie Meltdown - An Insider's point of View (Part 1)

The Aspie Meltdown - An Insider's point of View (Part 2)

That does sound like me. But isn't this fairly normal? Everyone gets emotionally overwhelmed at times. I can definitely relate to being upset when things don't go as planned - I don't have to control everything, but if I was really looking forward to something and then it gets cancelled, I get much more agitated than a normal person. And if I make plans with someone, then get stuck somewhere while they keep changing plans (I stopped going out with a friend because of this) I get highly upset. My friend will say, "come with me for an errand and then we'll go to dinner." So I don't eat beforehand, and then "an errand" turns into a 4 hours shopping trip and she'll refuse to leave - meanwhile I feel dizzy because I haven't eaten, my mom is furious because I'm going to be home a lot later than planned, and I'm just plain annoyed. But yeah, I get overly upset about things like this. For me, "melting down" is getting snappy at my friend, or if something I look forward to gets cancelled or I'm unsure of what's going to happen in the future, I get extremely anxious and then start crying. That's what's happening with the Golden Globe awards right now - I obsess over TV so I was so looking forward to them - now they're cancelled, and any other coverage is unlikely. I'm agitated about it, repeatedly checking for updates - I get overly upset. But I don't have huge public meltdowns in which I scream or break things. It's more internal stress that makes me cry.

Well, I know that everyone gets emotionally upset from time to time, but the frequency and intensity of it for me can't really be considered normal IMO. I don't just get agitated, I oftentimes become extremely upset and sometimes even violent. I once had to be removed from a teacher's class because of my aggressive behavior in confronting her when I was outraged over a poor grade. My boyfriend has worried that I would be taken into a mental institution because of the way I behaved in public when the tickets to a play I had planned to see were no good. (I started screaming at the ticket people and random strangers.) I had to move into a different room in college because my suite mates were disturbed by my pacing and other aspie behaviors, but mostly by my frequent meltdowns. I would have bad meltdowns in my room because the items on my desk were moved into disarray, or because my stuffed animal fell behind the bed. My tendency to experience these problems is my most obvious aspie trait, and was a big part of why my mom sought my diagnosis. While I don't doubt that everyone has problems controlling emotions, to some extent, I really do believe that my issues with this extend well beyond what most people experience. Knowing about AS has allowed me to stop blaming myself or thinking I'm a bad person because I often overreact and have difficulty controlling myself. My greatest fear is that I don't really have AS at all (though I'm diagnosed) and am just crazy. However, my parents, boyfriend, and psychologist assure me this is not the case. I know not all aspies are like this, of course, but for me problems with emotional regulation are very much a part of the AS package.

According to that criteria I don't have meltdowns either.
I have mood swings which are pretty justifiable given my situation.
Things like starting to scream in the middle of the street or an office or feeling like doing so - even under situations of extreme stress - have never happened to me.
In fact, situations which involve a lot of sensory stimulation on their own like being at a club with a lot of strangers don't cause any of that which could be mistaken for meltdown.
I've have been pissed off in crowded places and being in contact with a lot of people acting like sheep and basically getting in the way has made it worse but saying that's a meltdown is taking it too far since sensory issues on their own don't seem to be causing anything.
Also, comparing with those autism speaks videos whatever sensory issues I could have seem petty (in fact, I had a friend of sorts break his neck before my eyes and the NT guy that was with me was shaking so much I had to take his phone and dial myself).

Stimming as dx criteria seems kinda fishy to me in a similar way. Where's the line between AS stimming and NT stimming?. Assuming, I don't rock and hum. . . I like "drumming" when bored or impatient. . . In fact, I used to play drums for real. Does that entitle someone to point the finger and say "Ha! Gotcha! You are autistic!". I think it only serves the purpose of giving the autistic label to a lot of people that society and it's dominating paradigms can't come to terms with. Can't I just be a weird guy? Nope, seems like I have to be part of the dope show.

Many normal people "stim"; emotional upset will make many people rock, pace, pick and/or whatnot. The thing is, since those on the spectrum have an impaired ability to understand their own emotions, plus an ability to become extremely upset over "benign" events (food prepared the wrong way, a certain sight/sound, the wrong sequence of events, and what have you); this leads to those on the spectrum "stimming" more than the average person.

The same can be said for tantrums/"meltdowns".

Stimming I seem to have an understanding of.

Meltdowns I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what they are. I suppose they are different for everybody or are they? Is there some common thing about them? They might even have degree's of severity. I suppose you might have periods of time where you don't have them or the frequency is less. I mean those are all more questions then flat out statements. I have said recently here that I may have had two nervous breakdowns, one for sure, this last one a big ify and maybe what is being described as meltdown, just had a lot of them close together. I'm having a real hard time trying to figure out what seems to be a very generalized term.

A couple of examples, maybe. I can go in a grocery store and just the change in the space size can cause me to panic attack, sometimes the florescent lighting, if bad, can add to it. However after a brief physical and mental "stagger" I can go on with one hell of a lot of anxiety. Now the same thing can happen in other settings and the anxiety will build to the point where I just have to leave the area. Waiting rooms can do this. Then there was the last job I had, just getting ready to go do a very simple job, which I actually liked, I would shake uncontrollably, have to push myself to get into the car (which also can freak me to the point sometimes of not even be able to do it, much better about it now) and then, when there, fall into my very fast paced rush, keep busy routine. Sometimes, I would just have to call in to the job and say I can't do it today, I'll make up the time later. Then I have triggers that can set me off into a rage, I'm blind to other things around me, can't do much of anything other then let it takes it's course, but then I'm fixated on it and I don't multitask anyway. I don't know if these are even close to what is being used as meltdown. And over the course of many years the different types of the above examples have changed. I just don't get this term at all.

I won't describe the first nervous breakdown, which I have discussed with the doc. At this point he can't say for sure it even was, as it was long ago and I suppose it doesn't really matter. That was another animal altogether. The second one, well I'm not totaly sure it is, but maybe more of all the little meltdowns really close together? But even if it wasn't it has more or less lead to full disabilty, well part of it anyway. I just don't get this term, meltdown.

Mood swings are not meltdowns.

Meltdowns are best described as "extreme reactions" where the reaction is not at all suited to the size of the problem. Meltdowns don't have to be tantrums, though many are. Often the meltdown is simply an overwhelming need to escape (often curl up in a ball on the floor).





AS is not simply stimming, it's the result of a collection of criteria.

NTs have stimming behaviours too, though it could be argued that the further along the spectrum you go the more stimming behaviours you see and the greater the intensity.

Stimming alone is not enough to qualify for aspergers.